First Impressions

As soon as you take the new Nokia 3310 out of the box, it all comes flooding back. This is how phones used to be. Sure, the screen is a little bigger than the original, and the buttons have been slightly rejigged. But for all intents and purposes, this is the original 3310.

We whipped it out at a party, and were immediately swamped by people wanting to see it. That early noughties charm goes a long way.

Design

3.5mm headphone jack

Charges via microUSB

Removable back

It’s tiny compared to modern smartphones. Couple that with its plastic build, and it feels like a toy when you get it in your hand.

The buttons aren’t the rubbery ones we remember, but rather more plastic, and the d-pad surrounding the main button is a bit fiddly, and feels like it could be better spaced out. But maybe we’ve been spoiled, after years of enjoying the fluidity of a touchscreen.

The back is easy to prise off so you can swap in a different battery, or slot in your SIM and/or microSD card. Though sadly you can’t swap the covers, as you could with early noughties Nokias. Which feels like a bit of a missed opportunity, especially when there were so many great designs back in the day.

Build

Plastic

Weight

79.6g

Dimensions

115.6 x 51 x 12.8mm

Screen

The screen is only 2.4 inches diagonally, which makes the original iPhone’s look huge by comparison. Not only is it tiny, it also has a resolution of 320x240 pixels, which is very low indeed by today’s standards (2,560x1,440 is quickly becoming standard on high-end blowers).

The result? Everything looks blocky and grainy, just as it did around the turn of the 21st century. But that only adds to its charm.

Viewing angles aren’t too bad though, even if the colours do look a tad washed out. Don’t expect it to rival the likes of the iPhone 7 in terms of image quality.

Lock the phone – using a two-button press! – and the time appears on-screen, though it soon disappears. It’s a shame, as an always-on display is handy for seeing the time at a glance.

Size

2.4 inches

Resolution

320x240 pixels

Camera

Grainy photos

LED flash

Video recording

This is maybe the area where smartphones have come the furthest since the year 2000. Sadly, Nokia has fitted the new 3310 with a 2-megapixel camera. Is that an amazingly retro touch? Or just an effort to keep costs down? Depends on how you look at it.

What’s beyond debate is that the photos can’t match a modern smartphone’s. They’re pretty grainy, especially in low light. It has a zoom and an LED flash, and can record video, all of which are welcome additions. But there’s a delay between pressing the camera shutter button and it actually taking a photo, which means you risk blurry images if you don’t take care.

The phone also has a measly 16MB (that’s right, megabytes) of onboard storage. Which holds a grand total of six photos. In other words, you’re going to want a microSD card.

Oh, and it doesn’t have a selfie camera either. Simpler times.

Camera

2-megapixel

Optical image stabilisation

No

Unique features

Honestly? None.

Performance and battery life

MicroSD card slot

Marathon battery life

Bluetooth 3.0

The phone is fine to use, as long as you only want to do a limited number of things. Moving through the menu is fairly nippy, and basic functions like calling and texting work without a hitch. The problems start when you try and do anything more advanced.

For starters, there’s no 3G or Wi-Fi, which means getting online is painfully slow. GPS is also conspicuous by its absence, as are the most popular apps, including Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.

While it’s not meant to be a smartphone, it would’ve been awesome to somehow include these kinds of apps in a retro device. Most of us rely on them now, and to have them wrenched from our grasp is like going cold turkey.

But to answer the one thing everyone wants to know: yes, it does have Snake. But it’s not quite how you remember it. Instead of recreating it pixel-for-pixel, developer Gameloft has updated it. It’s now in colour, and you face off against another ‘snake’ in a challenge mode, instead of just competing with yourself.

The battery life is as phenomenal as we’d hoped. While most smartphones cough and splutter to a stop after a day’s use, the 3310 lasts a full week, or a month in standby.

RAM

16MB

Battery capacity

1,200mAh

OS and version

Nokia Series 30+

Value for money

The 3310 will set you back £50. That’s cheap for a phone, but then there are cheaper Nokias around – the 150 costs £20, while the 105 is just £8.

But it’s retro-tastic and is sure to grab attention the second you pull it out of your pocket. And yes, it does fit easily in your pocket, not like most modern-day phablets.

Verdict

Very good battery life

Retro design

No touchscreen

Reasonable screen

No Wi-Fi

No 3G

No GPS

Bluetooth

There’s definitely a market for the 3310 – just look at the hype it whipped up when it was announced. And nostalgic phone fans are sure to love the retro design, updated Snake and traditional keypad.

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